Book Ideas for the Dancer in Your Life
Dance is a practice that relies on the mind–body connection, and there’s no better way to nurture that connection than by reading! While we featured three new dance books—Swans of Harlem, Sleeping Beauties, and Passionate Work—earlier this year, here are six other published works from 2024 worth checking out. These books spotlight various sectors of the dance world spanning dance history and romance to choreographic insights.
Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg, by Doug Fullington and Marian Smith
In Five Ballets from Paris and St. Petersburg (Oxford University Press), dance historians Doug Fullington and Marian Smith delve into the rich history of the classical ballet canon, focusing on the earliest versions of Giselle, Paquita, Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, and Raymonda. The pair’s intensive research stems from a plethora of ballet manuscripts, uncovering over 50 images, original choreographic documentation, and musical translations. This book seeks to revive forgotten historic details and invite newfound curiosity surrounding some of these classical works we know and love.
Dancers: Choreographers in Dialogue, by Ingo Schaefer
For those who aspire to choreographic greatness, look no further than Dancers: Choreographers in Dialogue (independently published). Photographer and author Ingo Schaefer captures in images and words seven renowned contemporary ballet choreographers, including Bryan Arias, Hélène Blackburn, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Through thoughtful questioning and extensive conversation, Schaefer draws out each choreographer’s creative processes, from the studio to the stage. This comprehensive anthology focuses on 10 ballets, features inquiry into the choreographic mind at play, and interrogates how the upheaval of social and political landscapes interacted with these ballets’ creation.
Pointe of Pride, by Chloe Angyal
Chloe Angyal’s newest novel, Pointe of Pride (Amberjack Publishing), following last year’s Pas de Don’t, explores the sultry crossover between romance and ballet. Professional ballet dancer Carly Montgomery travels to Sydney to be the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding and meets best man Nick Jacobs, an attractive but uptight former-dancer-turned-photographer. When Carly learns company promotions are approaching faster than she anticipated, she hatches a plan to impress her new artistic director—but needs Nick’s help to pull it off. This love-loathe tale is sure to keep you at the edge of your seat as the duo’s tension and tenderness bubble over into a steamy romance.
Brown Girls Do Ballet: Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage, by TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian
Dancers of all ages will adore TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian’s Brown Girls Do Ballet (Black Dog & Leventhal). Stemming from Wallace-McMillian’s Brown Girls Do Ballet project on Instagram, this stunning book features photographs of young BIPOC ballet dancers, alongside JaNay Brown-Wood’s poetic text. Together, they create a work that empowers balletic youth and will surely inspire and encourage them on their ongoing dance journeys.
Crafting the Ballets Russes: Music, Dance, Design, by Robinson McClellan
In Crafting the Ballets Russes: Music, Dance, Design—The Robert Owen Lehman Collection (D Giles Limited), Robinson McClellan compiles sketches, drafts, and choreographic histories to paint a detailed account of the Ballets Russes in all its glory. Originating from the private collection held on deposit at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, Crafting the Ballets Russes is an endlessly informative visual wonderland. It features stage and costume designs, choreographic notations, and photographs of performers such as Michel Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Bronislava Nijinska. Art by frequent Ballets Russes collaborators Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, and Natalia Goncharova is woven throughout the book, alongside contributions from dance historian Lynn Garafola.
Errand into the Maze, by Deborah Jowitt
Modern dance’s Martha Graham takes center stage in Deborah Jowitt’s Errand into the Maze (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). This biography leads us through Graham’s lifetime as a dancer and choreographer, detailing her acclaimed and deeply influential career. Jowitt’s extensively researched work, spanning over a decade, is considered “piercingly insightful” by New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay and has been dubbed a “rigorous, authoritative biography” by Publishers Weekly.
